Chapter Text
“-then put out fire by peeing no get invited back.”
Leo was grateful he had paused in eating his popcorn out of his backwards hoodie hood as he snorted loudly letting out a loud laugh that no one on earth would think was likable. “Chandler you so get me,” he says, readjusting his position on the armchair and watching the shenanigans continue. The living room was covered in empty soda cans and popcorn he had been trying to trick shot into his mouth (his track record was less than impressive) his blanket gave out a crunching noise every time he shifted around. “Chandler you are a treasure this world does not deserve.” He reaches for another soda only to come up empty. He frowns as he rolls over and looks into his cooler to find his supply had dwindled, “Awww.” He presses pause on the tv and rolls onto the floor. His butt is so numb that he isn’t sure he had one anymore. But he finally manages to climb to his feet and make his way through the too quiet lair. But his arduous journey revealed that all the sodas he had bought had mysteriously disappeared.
The red slider turtle throws his head back and wails in despair, “DONNNNNIEEE!!!!” With all the dramatics of a theatre mom he fumbles and flails his way into his brother’s room, lit only by his computer screen. “Donnie didn’t you hear me?!?!?!”
“I did and I ignored you,” Donnie responds only by looking at his other monitor, “Obviously.”
“But Donnnieieee I’m thirssttttty and there’s no more ‘Jalapeño Oh No' soda in the fridge!!!” he drapes himself over his brother like a dramatic blanket. “Go buy me sooooome.”
“Ummm.” Don makes a show of thinking. “No? I’m going with no.”
Leo puffs up his cheeks. He knew there was very little chance of Donnie doing as he wanted but it still hurt. Instead, he turns his attention to Don’s screens. “Blue prints? Are you finally getting your revenge on Webster’s headquarters for changing the spelling of theater?”
“No, that’s next week.” Don scoots his seat back and at first Leo isn’t sure what he’s doing then realizes he’s giving him room to see the screen. “This is the power grid I have set up around the sewers. It controls the security, intercepts anything that could be given to the city, and warns me of any overflow.” He taps the screen over the darkened area that, judging by Leo’s estimate, takes over at least ten blocks. “This is interference. I need to get down there and figure out what’s going on. Unfortunately, it has to wait till Raph and Dad get back.”
“What why?” This was almost better than tv, this was something to do. “You need a spotter right? I’ll go with you!”
Donnie throws his head back with a loud obnoxious laugh. “Ha HA no, you’re the worst spotter ever. Last time you made me play ‘what am I sliding down your shell?’“
“I won't do that this time!” Probably. Leo couldn’t help the pout that escapes him as he crosses his arms. But Donnie has already turned back to his computer to try to remotely fix it from his location. Leo, not having the energy to go back to the living room, pulls over one of Don’s spare chairs and sits down. Though he plays on his phone, he keeps glancing at Donnie to make sure he knew that he was annoyed. But after a few minutes Don’s phone went off with Raph’s name on the caller ID.
Leo snatches the phone up first and puts on his best Donnie impression, ”You are conversing with Dorkatellosaurous-“ but suddenly he feels Donnie pinch him on his arm. The sudden pain makes him drop the phone with a more than dramatic yelp. Donnie easily catches the phone out of the air, ”THIS is Donatello, that was just our most annoying brother ever,” he says twisting in his seat long enough to kick out at him. But the red slider dodges with a maniacal giggle as he slides out of range of further violence.
Leo can’t hear the other side of the conversation. But Don’s brow furrows. “What still? I told you, if you want Mikey to get a tetanus shot willingly you have to bribe him. I don’t care how many times he bit you- he bit Draxum too?” Donnie shakes his head, slapping at Leo as he snorts. Leo had always thought he was the worst one when it came to getting shots. Except the sight of a needle always seemed to bring out Mikeys most animalistic instincts. “Ok, so get a broom, chase him out from the chimney and get home.” Donnie hangs up his phone with a sigh as he leans back in his seat. Leo scoots his chair closer again with his fists both tucks under his chin with a big grin. Donnie peers at him from between his fingers before giving out a loud sigh.
——————-
“-So apparently Ross’s lesbian ex-wife, by the way good for her, is pregnant with his son. And Ross doesn’t get along with her new partner. What was her name?” Leo thinks hard (almost as hard as Donnie is trying to ignore him) as he side-steps a puddle barely illuminated by the swinging light that lines the sewer tunnel. “Sally??Sarah-“
“Susan,” Donnie says without looking up from his tech gauntlet.
“Suzan!” Leo snapped his fingers. ”Knew I’d remember it!! Wait, is it a Suzan with a Z or Susan with as s-“ he is so enraptured he didn’t notice Donnie reaching over and flicking him hard on the side of the head. “Ow! What??”
“I know you’re excited to watch a sitcom literally everyone has seen, but I need you to focus on what you’re doing. You can info dump on me when we get back I promise.”
“I am, I ammmm! I’m just having fun! I think Ross is my favorite character so far.”
“I.” Donnie blinks and stops walking,” Ross? Monica’s older brother Ross?”
“Yeah, I mean you don’t? He’s a – a- palllytollygist-“-“
“-A paleontologist, you could not have says that more wrong-“
“-HE likes dinosaurs just like you do! You’ve seen every Jurassic Park, World AND Land Before Time movie twenty times a year.”
Donnie raises his head and opens his mouth like wants to say something before shaking his head as though deciding against it. “Nope, gotta find out for yourself.” He returns to his gauntlet even as Leo glared at him. Which probably meant that Donnie was debating spoiling the series for him right then and there, not that it would be the first time (they had a bad habit of ‘spoil revenging’ each other and it was definitely Donnies turn). “Ok Leo we’ll get this done so you can get back to your twenty seven year old sitcom.” Ah, so the villain was going to wait till Leo had something he wanted and hold his spoilers hostage? Leo couldn’t lie, he’d do the same thing.
“And I am sorry I pulled you away, I would have done this alone except the last time I did both Dad and Raph lectured me for two hours.” Donnie rolls his eyes tiredly. “And since they're both at Draxum’s trying to give Mikey a tetanus shot I really had no choice in the matter.”
“Eh, it’s ok bud. My butt was getting numb anyway.” Leo says with a wide grin. He knew just as well as Donnie how important it was to have a spotter when out doing maintenance in the sewers.
Ever since they were tots Splinter had lectured over and over again about the dangers of the sewers (sometimes with facts, sometimes with sock puppets; once in song). But it was a danger they had to eventually learn how to live with so there were certain rules. One of the biggest ones was to never venture in the sewers alone. This was the rule Don broke more than anyone else, more so because of all the sensors and security he had set up around the sewers to help keep their lair safe from the dangers of over-flooding and discovery. So in a way Leo was proud Donnie had actually gotten him rather than rolled his eyes and gone out on his own.
They came to a fork in the path when Donnie stopped walking, looking from the left and right tunnel to his gauntlet, tapping it lightly with the side of his fist. “See? that’s the problem,” Donnie explaines, “When the wires get corrupted it's not as easy to follow the path.” Leo had been about to ask what they should do when the lights in the left tunnel flicker. “There we go, that’s what we’re looking for.” He gestures for Leo to follow before a stick with a light on the end lights up the darkening tunnel. Leo follows close to his brother’s shell. Don, without looking at him, pats him on the hand. “It’s ok. In and out. Once we get the power fixed the lights will be back on.”
“Right.” He knows that. It wasn’t that Leo was afraid of the dark, but was more afraid of what the dark held. Alligators, mutant gold fish, realtors. They finally reached an opening. In the dark Leo could see something sparking from the wall that had to be the source of Donnie’s problem. It overlooks a large tunnel not unlike that one they tubed down except this one was dry. And it had a rusty metal railing to keep someone from falling down. Overall, it wasn’t the best kept tunnel. Donnie taps his gauntlet a few times and a moment later the power box finally stops sparking leaving the only visible light coming from Donnie’s battle shell, at first Leo worries it wouldn’t be enough before the light begins to swell again.
“There we go.” Donnie pulls out a static pen from his bag. “Now you stand there, don’t touch anything, and when Raph and Dad get back vouch for me ok?”
“No prob, bud,” Leo says with a mock salute. “But couldn’t you have just done this from the lair?”
“I wish. I probably could have at some point but eventually the damage became so bad that I couldn’t even get a reading let alone redirect anything.” From his tone Leo could tell that his brother regretted putting it off so long. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was the oozequitos crisis or the shredder crisis that kept him from down here. Donnie opens the rusty power box with ease. The fact the hinges were in good shape told Leo he had been maintaining it at some-point. After a few seconds of poking Donnie steps back and taps his gauntlet again. The room lights up fully. “There we go. That’s one problem solved,” he says before disappearing behind the panel again.
Soon all there is, is the sound of the soldering pen hissing against the wires. After a bit, Donnie reaches into his battle shell and pulls out a few cables, hooking them into the power box, not offering Leo an explanation. Without the dark to occupy his unfounded fears, it didn’t take long for boredom to take over. With a groan he walks over and leans on the railing and pulls out his phone. Puffing up his cheek in irritation when he lacks a signal to do little more than use his calculator app. “Don’t you have a signal booster in your battle shell?”
“Not this one. It won't take long, just be patient,” Donnie says.
Damn it, so much for getting to the season one finale. He’s about to start his favorite nonmobile game, ‘see how long it takes to annoy Donnie,’ when a rumbling fills the air, trembling the stone beneath his feet. “OK, wow.” Leo looks around. “That was you right? Or is Raph really really hungry?”
“Yes, don’t worry, it wasn’t the alligator real estate agent.” Well, that shows Leo for telling him about his nightmares. “I’ll be done in a sec.”
“OK, cool. Do you want to order pizza when we get-“ Leo puts his hand on the railing to stand up when there’s a snapping of metal and his support suddenly disappears. He flails his arms with a shriek before he falls over the edge, rolling down the rounded wall and coming to a stop at the bottom with his face on the ground.
“Are you ok?” Donnie calls. “If you’re dead let me know. I have dibs on your comics if something happens to you.”
After a few seconds of blinking, he lets out a weak laugh, “Y-yeah I'm good.”
“Ah hell. I mean great!” the soft shell says in a way that’s clearly for Leo's amusement. The red slider grins, though still dazed from the fall, rises up on his knees, and goes to stand up when he suddenly feels a tug on his right ankle. He looks down to see it in a large crack in the ground. “Uhhh.” He pulls again. “Donnie? Buddy? I’m stuck.”
“Of for the love of-really?” Donnie’s face appears over the edge, leaning over as much as his battle shell (still connected to the panel) allows him and frowns. “Ok, hold on tight klutz. Let me finish this up and I’ll-“ a red flashing light suddenly reflects off the back of Donnie’s head that catches his attention. He looks over towards the panel before he disappears from sight. The sound of typing fills the air before pausing. “Oh f-“
“Donnie?” Leo crouches down, trying to find a weak point to pull his ankle away. But the sharp rocks had already torn through his spats and were now dangerously close to tearing his skin. Another rumbling sound fills the air followed by a new beeping sound coming from where Donnie was.
“Leo, get out of there now.” Donnie appears at the edge again, pulling hard against the cords. “NOW.”
“I-I can’t, I told you!” Leo makes a show of yanking again. “I’m stuck-“ Another rumbling fills the air, loud enough to drown the beeping that Leo now realizes are alarms. This time the sound didn’t fade and instead begins to echo around him. It took a long terrifying moment for him to realize the echoing was coming from the tunnel he was now in. The loose pebbles on the ground trembling from the force-
Donnie appears by his side, kneeling down, also grabbing a hold of Leo’s ankle. “It’s ok, Leo. It’s ok,” he promises yanking on it. Leo tries to pull on his leg but it only results in a splitting pain going up his ankle.
“OW!” he snaps. Donnie looks to him desperately before pulling out his bo staff and slamming it hard on the ground by the crack trying to loosen the grip before he looks back towards the rumbling.
“I’m going to blast it,” he says as his staff flips around to a pronged mode Leo didn’t recognize that began to hum and let off a light between the points.
“Don’t!” Leo begs, “You’ll break my leg-“
“Would you rather have a broken leg or a-“ Don’s eyes look past Leo and widen in terror. Leo looks back in time to see a giant wave of water twist around the corner of the tunnel and come crashing towards them. A perfect vision of his oldest nightmare that freezes his body. Before he can think of making a noise or crying out, he feels an arm wrap tightly around his chest and another cover his mouth and nose.
The water crashes over them, knocking all sense and logic out of him along with a stabbing pain shooting up his hip. The water pulls on him and his caught ankle like a balloon in a strong storm. The water is darker than Leo’s worst fears, burning his eyes, and for a moment he wonders if the burning is from the water or his tears joining it-
The grip around his chest tightens and suddenly he remembers he’s not alone. A light shoots past his sight and he feels the crack around his ankle explode, finally releasing it. He instinctively tries to kick it when the pain returns and his tears redouble. But the arm around his chest pulls him upward. He wants to twist around to see his brother, but the water is too strong and he worries how Donnie is able to swim against such a strong current, before remembering hearing Donnie brag about how soft shell turtles were natural swimmers.
It’s only when they break the surface does the hand over Leo’s mouth and nose disappear and he’s heaved onto the pathwy. The red slider quickly rolls away from the water’s edge. He can barely hear his own coughing over the gushing wave slowly calming down. He feels hands pulling him up into a sitting position and he’s held tightly to Donnie’s chest. The water has already robbed them both of any warmth but he clings to his brother. “It’s ok. It’s ok, bud. I got you.” Donnie says. Leo hides his face in Don’s shoulder, a mixture of coughing out the dead air in his lungs and his sobs of terror, gripping Donnie’s bicep for dear life as the soft shell strokes the back of his head and rocks him. After a few minutes when his trembling and breathing start calming down, he feels Donnie reach into Leo’s pack and pull away long enough to open it, unfolding a thin emergency blanket, and wrapping it around Leo’s shoulders. “You’re OK? You didn’t get any water in your lungs did you?”
Unable to do more than cough and sob, Leo shakes his head, holding the blanket tightly around him. Donnie moves down and looks at his ankle. Despite his gentle touch, pain shoots up his sluggishly bleeding ankle and makes him flinch. “I know it hurts. I’m sorry, but this needs to be cleaned as quickly as possible.” He cleans up the wound with a few wipes, pulls at a can of antiseptic and sprays it over the cut. Leo does his best to stay still despite the stinging that somehow seems worse than the cut itself.
“A-are you ok?” Leo asks in a weak trembling voice that feels like it doesn’t belong to him. The warm smile Donnie gives him somehow feels warmer than the blanket.
“Don’t worry about me, I wasn’t hurt.” Leo nods and lets out a slow trembling breath watching Donnie wrap his ankle. “That’ll work till we get back home.” Donnie says standing up, reaching towards him, “Let’s see if you can stand on it.“ Leo nods and takes his hands, using him to pull himself up. He puts a little weight on his ankle, only to have pain shoot up it and his hip and nearly causes his legs to fold underneath him. Donnie thankfully catches him by the arms. His brother ducks underneath his arm and lets him put his weight on him, his arm over the blanket still wrapped around Leo to keep him from losing any warmth. It’s only when Leo puts his arm around Donnie’s shoulder that he notices his battle shell is missing. He looks over his shoulder to see it laying on the ground still connected to the electric box which is now torn in half hanging from the wall. He wonders how hard Donnie had pulled against it to try and get to him before giving up and leaving it behind. Despite himself, he rests his head on his brother’s shoulder as the two start making their slow pace back towards home, grateful more than ever for Donnie.
He’s so grateful in fact, he doesn’t notice the weak rasp in Donnie’s breath.